Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 14 October 2026 that he feels personally betrayed by US President Donald Trump after Ukraine’s military lost most of its access to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service. Zelenskyy made the remarks in London, where he met King Charles and then British prime minister Andy Burnham in Downing Street, according to the Guardian.
Key facts
- Asked by broadcaster Piers Morgan whether he felt betrayed by Trump, Zelenskyy replied: “Really, yes … but it’s a little bit more complicated than just my emotions or my feelings,” the Guardian reports.
- Ukraine confirmed on 14 October that its access to Starlink terminals had been severely restricted, hampering combat operations, according to the Kyiv Independent, republished by Yahoo News.
- Ukraine’s military reported overnight, without explanation, that the system was no longer working at speeds greater than 100mph, the Guardian says.
- Musk said the decision was not his, telling the Guardian that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government” and that any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately the president.
- Kyiv has asked for Starlink operations to be restored, warning that “people will die” otherwise, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Why it matters
Starlink, the low-Earth-orbit broadband network built by Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, has become a wartime utility for Ukraine rather than a consumer product. The Guardian reports the restriction effectively rendered most of the drones Ukraine uses to strike behind the front lines inoperable, and also affected what it describes as the most effective air defence system against Russian jet-powered attack drones bombing Kyiv.
The episode also shows how far control over a commercial satellite service can sit with a government rather than its operator — a question that matters anywhere Starlink is used for public safety or critical communications. Our earlier report explains how Starlink underpins Ukraine’s battlefield communications.
What Ukraine says happened
Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser on military technology to Zelenskyy and a popular military blogger, said terminals travelling at more than 100mph and using a version of Starlink built for the military and other national security agencies suddenly lost connectivity, in what appeared to be a targeted outage meant to disrupt military operations, according to the Guardian.
“Our armed forces did not receive a warning about these restrictions and this led to the failure of a number of missions,” Beskrestnov said, the Guardian reports, adding that the action could not be a coincidence and was connected to the current political situation. He said the limits hit interceptors used against jet-powered Shahed drones, and that interception rates had already fallen from more than 90% to about 60% after Russia upgraded those drones to jet engines in the early summer.
Zelenskyy was blunter about who was responsible. “I am sure they knew what they did, absolutely. Because it was 1am at night, Starlink was blocked by SpaceX and the United States,” he told Morgan, per the Guardian, saying the decision would bring a lot of human losses.
Where the accounts differ
The sources do not describe the restriction identically. The Kyiv Independent refers to an apparent decision to throttle Ukraine’s Starlink service, which Zelenskyy called a “big mistake”, while the Guardian reports a speed-linked cut-off affecting terminals moving faster than 100mph. Zelenskyy named both SpaceX and the United States; Musk said SpaceX did not make the call and that Ukraine’s military was linked to a related network called Starshield, operated by the US government. We covered the reported speed cap on Ukraine’s terminals and Musk’s account of who set the limits separately.
The political rupture behind it
The Kyiv Independent reports that Trump announced a deal on 9 October to purchase diesel from Russia while saying Zelenskyy should be replaced as Ukraine’s leader. The Hill describes the move as lifting sanctions on Russian diesel exports to lower US prices ahead of the midterms, and says Zelenskyy called Trump “weak” for making a deal with Vladimir Putin.
According to the Kyiv Independent, Trump’s team threatened to cut off intelligence support and arms shipments unless Kyiv halted strikes on Russian refineries; The Hill reports US officials called European capitals and Kyiv over the weekend with that threat, confirmed to it by a European official and first reported by the Financial Times. Most US weapons reach Ukraine through European purchases under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, The Hill notes.
Trump then unilaterally announced an energy truce on 11 October, catching Ukrainian officials by surprise, the Kyiv Independent reports. Both outlets say Russia kept striking Ukraine’s grid: the Guardian reports a massive strike late on Tuesday, which Zelenskyy said involved 39 ballistic missiles and 120 attack drones against Kyiv and Kharkiv, hitting five big power plants and key substations.
London talks
Zelenskyy told reporters he hoped to raise Starlink access and intelligence sharing with Burnham, the Guardian reports. Burnham said Britain’s support “will not change”, and told MPs he wanted to be careful about criticising Trump while “laying the ground” for a reconciliation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the restriction stop Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries?
No. The Guardian reports that the limits would have no impact on Ukraine’s deep-strike bombing of oil refineries, because Kyiv is banned from using Starlink to hit targets inside Russia. The restriction instead affected drones striking behind the front lines and inside Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, according to the same report.
Has the US said whether it cut intelligence sharing with Ukraine?
Trump denied on Tuesday that his administration had cut intelligence sharing, according to the Guardian. In an NPR interview aired on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian military advisers had received threats from the US that intelligence sharing could be limited in future, the Guardian reports.
What did the UK offer Ukraine during the London visit?
The Guardian reports that Burnham pledged to accelerate supplies of British lightweight multi-role missiles, which Ukraine uses against Russian drone strikes, and said officials were drawing up further sanctions and options for speeding up military aid. The UK is also set to give £17m towards repairs to the protective roof over the destroyed Chornobyl nuclear power plant.
Why does Trump want Ukraine to stop hitting Russian refineries?
Trump has blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries for high diesel prices, according to the Guardian and the Kyiv Independent, which notes experts dispute the claim. Zelenskyy told Fox News the price of diesel depends on the blocking of the strait of Hormuz, and the Guardian reports most analysts attribute the larger impact to that closure after the US-Israel attack on Iran.
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